alligoat

The 93160 is not correct for this model- stick with the 93150 and either keep the 580 ends or get a set of 585 ends which are more correct. If you replace the crystal, you'll probably need a custom retaining ring from jmb- I did it and it worked out great- the watch is WR now also, but plan on spending $75-100 doing it- more if you spring for a gen crystal. Or leave the crystal as is and stay out of the water or have it tested first. trim the cgs is a must and easy to do you might have to service the 2846, but those are the breaks- it's a good old slow beat swiss movement.

yep, it looks good, but does it fit? It is a copy of a gen 16610 (16800) bezel, no doubt.

and depending on how they look with a dial, and will a movement fit in there....and which movement? But if they're like Ingod's dial, they'll be a hit.

I don't see anything that jumps out at me, the engraving looks good, I can't tell if it's a 90s replacement dial and the only way I can really tell is a movement pic, but alas, this guy isn't going to be able to do that w/o some serious help. It could be legit...

Those are both excellent watches, congrats!

I don't agree with Freddy- some early 5512s had a chapter ring and some didn't. Also, you wouldn't expect to see a 5512 with a 1530 movement, but I'm not saying it's not possible. 1560 and 1570 movements are most typical since they are chronometer grade. But as we all know, anything is possible w/ vintage Rolex. Who would have thought we'd be studying these early watches ad nausem- certainly not Rolex!

That dial is a big improvement. You might try an Ofrei pearl next.

Good looking watch D! I'm not one of those who is big on a working HE valve on a rep, but since you have the 1570 movt, maybe you should go all the way! But it's your call. I do think a PB vintage lume would be cool- I like reps/frankens that glow. How many watch aficionados do you run with anyway?

Wow! This is exciting! Suddenly I'm liking the 1680 all over again!

T-19 crystals can vary in OD from 30.3 to 30.5- look at the Sternkruz crystals Nanuq pointed out- XS303.472 XS305.451 Ofrei also lists 3-4 crystals. Best bet is to measure your crystal retaining ring ID and order something a little bit bigger for a tight fit

Looks to me like all you can salvage is the pearl. But it looks legit to me.

No, I skipped that phase. It just wasn't that big a deal to me.

That's exactly why I sent my DJ 16000 case to Phong!

Well, having just done this in stainless steel, it's not that difficult. It's a 1556 movement and an 1803 white pie-pan dial in a 16000 Datejust case. The case has to go to Phong to be modified and it's not cheap, but he's the only one doing it. Mine's an aftermarket fluted bezel with a Clark's T-118 crystal and a 24-600 crown. The hands are Clark's also. Like Valty says, these aren't cheap builds! But I'm enjoying mine!

Either way, 5512 or 5513, they're both great! And of course, we can build replicas of them which are almost as good for 1/10th of the price!

Using wet/dry is fine! Here's watchmaterial- http://www.watchmaterial.com/viewitem.asp?idProduct=1800 I guess Jewelryoutlet550 is gone- but they were the same as wholesaleoutlet990 on ebay. Also, watchbandman50 is part of that same group of thieves! Kurtyiu also has inserts for a decent price. Some guys have mentioned Clarks as having good inserts- nostalgia_ 2000 on the bay.

I've wallowed out the hole for the pearl with an x-acto knife, then glued the WM pearl in. A small set of files is what you need to reduce the OD of the insert- just go slowly and keep test fitting it. Glue it in with G-S Hypo Cement, or carefully with an epoxy- you don't want to glue the bezel so it won't turn. One other thing, BK use to file the back side of the insert so that it would sit lower in the bezel and look more gen like.

For a guy from Oklahoma City, you got to figure he has some chinese or other eastern connections. But I agree, that case needs some more finishing- like a lot!

The awareness that Rolex, rightly or wrongly, is associated with a certain kind of person in many minds –generally male, American, McMansion-owning, loud, golf-obsessed, sartorially challenged and gastronomically undiscriminating, and fond of unnecessarily large and inefficient automobiles –merely serves to confirm the prejudice that unless one wants to be taken for an illbred, reactionary lout, Rolex and all it stands for is best avoided. Damn, I resemble that remark! But luckily I fell into the third category of collecting mid priced vintage watches (and building frankens and modding reps).

Well, BK's old formula was a Jewelryoutlet550 insert with a watchmaterial pearl. You have to enlarge the pearl hole slightly for the WM pearl. Also, you have to shave the outside of the insert down a little to fit in the bezel since the old noob bezel was just a little smaller ID than gen spec.

Well for starters, the hand stack is incorrect- the hour hand should be on the bottom, GMT hand next and the minute hand above it- but that's typical of these reps and the movement is more reliable than the correct handstack movements which tend to fail. But you're paying a premium for the Rolex markings on the movement and that's really a waste of money IMO. Plus these modified look alike movments aren't very reliable either- you'd do better to stick with a plain jane asian clone eta movement. BTW, I doubt this is a swiss eta modified to mimic the rolex 3187- it's an asian clone probably. You might look for the same model for less money in the asian clone movement and have enough money left over to buy another rep.

You might check his site- they probably are still available. I bought this one 5-6 years ago- it's a 5513 case I put an aftermarket dial in it, it's the one on the left in the pic below The one on the right is Paul's DRSD with the working HE valve- I got rid of that case and used the Swiss eta in another build- a 16660.

I like Red's example. I'd personally stay away from a champagne dial, but it's really up to you. My 16014's dial has faded from silver to an oyster beige- that was common on Rolex dials in the 60s and 70s The watch over in Munich says silvery, but it looks pretty white in the pic, but the contrast of the dial and the gold sticks and hands is nice.

Looks like a gen insert w/ a chunk missing at 10! Gen crown and tube also? Rep.

Yep, sounds like a rep dial. A gen 1680 dial is 26.5mm and a 5513 is maybe 26.2mm or less. A 1665 dial would be some where in that range. So then you're looking at a rep case, I guess. Maybe you buy a cheap Josh type 5513 and see if you can make it work- or just go with a new rep- sometimes you can't win....